Homily for the the Solemnity of Corpus Christi -
the Body and Blood of Jesus

by Fr. Tommy Lane

All of us together form the Church. Who is the center or
head of the Church? Jesus is the center. How is Jesus most present to us? In the
Blessed Sacrament. Today’s celebration of Corpus Christ, the Body of Christ, is
the feast of the very center and heart of our church, the center and heart of
our faith, and the center and heart of parish, the center and heart of the lives
of each of us, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

I know that some find it difficult to
believe that bread and wine change into the Body and Blood of Jesus. I can understand your doubts. We don’t see any change in the bread
or wine. There is no difference in
the taste; the bread still tastes like bread and the wine still tastes like
wine. It is going against logic to
say that the bread and wine change into the Body and Blood of Jesus despite no
change in appearance. With our intellect we can understand that God must be keeping the universe together,
that God is the origin of everything, but reason will only take us so far. Then we need to
add faith to our reason and intellect. As Paul says, in the Christian life we go by faith and not by sight (2
Cor 5:7). We need to be humble and
open to God performing a miracle every day in this church, the miracle of the
Eucharist. Can you be humble enough to add faith to your intellect and reason,
to admit that intellect by itself does not provide all the answers, and
that God can perform miracles every day making it possible for bread and wine to become the
Body and Blood of Jesus while keeping the same appearance? Can you add faith to
your intellect? When you submit to
God you will not lose anything, you will gain everything. There is a beautiful chant, “Trust,
surrender, believe, receive.” Add faith to your reasoning and receive the love of God for you!
The Eucharist is the gift of God’s love for you.

To help us believe, from
time to time, God has allowed visible miracles of the Eucharist to occur,
Eucharistic Miracles as we call them. These are miracles that occurred
during Mass when the bread changed into the form of flesh during the
consecration and the wine changed into the form of blood during the
consecration. Many such Eucharistic Miracles have occurred in various
parts of the world and throughout the two millennia of Christian history and
have been authenticated by the Church.

In the year 1263 a priest from Prague was on route to Rome
making a pilgrimage asking God for help to strengthen his faith since he was
having doubts about his vocation. Along the way he stopped in Bolsena 70 miles north of Rome. While celebrating Mass
there, as he raised the host during the consecration, the bread turned into
flesh and began to bleed. The drops of blood fell onto the small white cloth on
the altar, called the corporal. The following year, 1264, Pope Urban IV
instituted the feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus, today’s feast, Corpus
Christi. The Pope asked St Thomas Aquinas, living at that time, to write hymns
for the feast and he wrote two, better known to the older members of our
congregation, the Tantum Ergo and O Salutaris. That blood-stained corporal may
still be seen in the Basilica of Orvieto north of Rome, and I had the privilege
of seeing it during the time I lived in Italy.

Although that is the eucharistic
miracle that led to the institution of this feast, a more famous eucharistic
miracle is the eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, also in Italy, which took place
many centuries earlier, in the year 700. A monk who feared he was losing his
vocation was celebrating Mass, and during the consecration the host turned into
flesh and the wine turned into blood. Despite the fact that the miracle took
place almost 1300 years ago, you may still see the flesh in a monstrance which is
exposed every day and the blood in a glass chalice. (The glass chalice is
beneath the monstrance on the right.) I also had the privilege of
seeing that eucharistic miracle during my time in Italy. The blood has congealed
and is now in five clots in the glass chalice. In 1971 and 1981 a hospital
laboratory tested the flesh and blood and discovered that the flesh is
myocardium, which is heart muscular tissue, so we could say it is the heart of
Jesus, the Sacred Heart, and the blood is of the blood group AB. In
1978 NASA scientists tested the blood on the Turin Shroud and
interestingly also discovered that it is of the blood group AB. (The Sudarium, Face Cloth of Christ,
in John 20:6 is also of the blood group AB.) Despite the fact
that human flesh and blood should not have remained preserved for 1300 years the
hospital lab tests found no trace of any preservatives. One final interesting
point about the five blood clots in the chalice is that when you weigh one of
them, it is the same weight as all five together, two of them together weigh the
same as all five. In fact no matter what way you combine the blood clots
individually or in a group to weigh them, they always weigh the same.
(This shows that the full Jesus is present in a particle of the Eucharist no
matter how small.)

These are two eucharistic miracles I have seen and which
have been authenticated by the Church after investigation. In spiritual books
you will read of many more eucharistic miracles throughout the world which have
been authenticated by the Church. All of these authenticated eucharistic
miracles throughout the world are surely an answer to any doubts we may have
about Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus is really with us in the Eucharist. Jesus
comes to us in every Mass under the form of bread and wine. The Eucharist is a
celebration of the love of Jesus for us, his blood shed for us in love and his
body scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified for us. The wine poured and the
bread broken is the love of Jesus for us, body and blood given for us. Because
the Eucharist is the love of Jesus for us we always approach Jesus in the
Eucharist with great respect and asking pardon for our sins. That’s why it is
so necessary at the start of every Mass to ask Jesus for mercy because we are so
unworthy of his love, and again before receiving Jesus we express our
unworthiness, “Lord I am not worthy to receive you but only say the word and I
shall be healed.” Think of how precious a moment in our Mass it is when we
receive Jesus in Holy Communion. When we receive Jesus, Jesus is in us and we
are with Jesus. It is like what Genesis says about the marriage of man and
woman, no longer two but one (Gen 2:24). It is the same when we receive Jesus. We are no
longer two but one. “He who eats my flesh abides in me and I in him.” (John
6:57).

I know some find it difficult to believe that bread and
wine change into the Body and Blood of Jesus. Can you be humble enough to
add
faith to your reason and intellect, to admit that intellect by itself does not
provide all the answers, and that God can perform miracles every day making it
possible for bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Jesus while keeping
the same appearance? Can you add faith to your reason and logic? To help us in our weak faith, from time to time, God has
given us Eucharistic Miracles so that we may believe in the Real Presence
of Jesus in the Eucharist. Come to
Jesus, not like a scientist trying to analyze, but come in trust, surrender,
believe and receive his love. Say
to Jesus that you believe he is really present in the Blessed Sacrament and
gradually grow from merely believing, to loving Jesus, and being loved by Jesus. Come to visit Jesus in the Tabernacle
here in church often where you will have
a wonderful opportunity to trust, surrender, believe and receive the love of
Jesus. Because our diocese loves Jesus in
the Eucharist so much we have Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in every town in
our diocese. Every hour of every
day and night, our diocese is trusting, surrendering, believing and receiving
the love of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Trust, surrender, believe in and receive the love of Jesus for you in the
Eucharist.

As a symbol of our love for Jesus we will carry him in
procession tonight. It is also a symbol of Jesus’ love for us. We cannot carry
Jesus through every street or road in our parish but nevertheless we know that
Jesus is with us and loves us, his blood is poured out for us and his body
broken for us. As Jesus passes you in the Blessed Sacrament adore him and thank
him for all that he has done for us unworthy sinners. Also as Jesus passes you
in the Blessed Sacrament ask him for whatever healing you need. Try to put words
on the deepest healing of your life that you need and ask Jesus to heal you. At
Masses for healing, the healing always occurs when people are blessed with Jesus
in the monstrance. Jesus in the monstrance will pass you by tonight. Adore him,
love him and ask him for help. He is waiting for you. Remember the words of the
consecration of every Mass recalling Jesus giving himself for us, “This is my
Body which will be given up for you....This is the cup of my blood. It will be
shed for you...”

May Jesus in the Eucharist always be the very center and
heart of our church, the center and heart of our faith, the center and heart of
our parish, and the center and heart of the lives of each of us.

O Sacrament most holy,
O Sacrament divine,
All praise and all thanksgiving
Be every moment thine.